May | 13 | Crossroads and Crucial Conduits

Key Word:- FOCUS

Title:- Crossroads and Crucial Conduits

Matthew 4:13-17 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali,...... From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Leith Anderson in his book, ‘Leadership That Works’, (page 75) compares the priorities of people of the 1950’s with people of today. It’s an interesting list:-

Yesterday’s Priorities
Institutional
Church
Duty
Showing Up
Faithfulness

Today’s Priorities
Individual
Family
Opportunity
Significance
Effectiveness

I suppose the danger of such a listing is to assume that people in the 1950’s and from that generation, had and maybe continue to have, no real priority for Themselves, their Families, Opportunity, Significance or Effectiveness? I certainly don't believe that to be the case. In any event, the priorities of the 1950's Christian are also the priorities of Jesus! For when planting seeds, He especially took the opportunity to plant effectively with great present significance and, I would suggest, He also planted for a much greater future harvest.

The Scriptures are clear that Jesus went to Capernaum to fulfill prophecy! A good question then, is why such a town is the subject of such specific prophetic disclosure and Messianic decision? Well, Moody Bible Atlas calls Capernaum, a ‘Crucial Conduit’, and so it was, for “Unlike the sleepy, obscure village of Nazareth, Capernaum was at a crucial Junction,… through which coursed a steady stream of humanity from many diverse sectors and countries………it pulsated with the activities and congestion of internationalism.”

Interestingly enough folks, though the early apostolic movement surged to the North West, the earliest archaeological evidence of churches are however, found in the North East. Maybe this was due to Jesus taking the opportunity of placing Himself in that Crucial Conduit of Capernaum which had both great significance and eternal effect?

We all need wisdom in finding and placing ourselves in or at, significant and effective Crossroads and Crucial Conduits! To influence our families, our friends and our world, we must prayerfully seek out these points of ‘cruciality’ in our physical and spiritual geography, so that we can effectively spread the seed, shine the light, and shake the salt with both eternal significance and infinite effectiveness. Look around and ask yourself, “Is where I am placed today, a crossroads or a conduit? Is where I am standing today, of any real significance and eternal effect? ”


Listen:-“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents Matthew 10:16

Pray:- Lord, help me to 'box clever' and find and position myself in the best place to be for me, my family and the people of the world that You require me to touch. Make me both significant in You and effective in Your mission for me. Amen!